The Kinks' The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society

Description

Ignored by virtually everyone upon its release in November 1968, 'The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society' is now seen as one of the best British albums ever recorded. Here, Andy Miller traces the perilous circumstances surrounding its creation, and celebrates the timeless, perfectly crafted songs pieced together by a band who were on the verge of disintegration and who refused to follow fashion. EXCERPT 'Big Sky' contains some of the most beautiful, thunderous music The Kinks ever recorded, aligned to a vulnerability and warmth no other group - and I mean no other group - could ever hope to equal. It is a perfectly balanced production. On the one hand, the mesh of clattering drums and electric guitar never threatens to overwhelm the melody; on the other, the gossamer-light harmonies, Ray and Dave's vocal line traced by Rasa Davies' wordless falsetto, are bursting with emotion. When most of the instruments drop away at 1.20, the effect is effortlessly vivid - two lines where Davies' performance is both nonchalant and impassioned. The result is wonderfully, enchantingly sad, made more so perhaps by the knowledge that The Kinks will never again sound so refined or so right.

Andy Miller has worked as a bookseller and a publisher (for Fourth Estate) in London. He is an occasional contributor to Mojo, and has recently published his first book through Penguin in the UK.

This detailed tome leads the reader through the often fraught construction of what is now regarded as Davies's [sic] masterpiece- and, like the best books of its ilk, it makes the reader want to either re-investigate the album or hear it for the first time. * Blender Magazine, October 2003 * Miller takes an in-depth look at the Kinks' nostalgic and autobiographical album, released in 1968 , at the worst possible time, when rock was all about rebellion and psychedelia...This is the sort of focus that my make you want to buy a copy, or dig out your old one. * Rob Mackie, The Guardian * A compelling portrait...Miller's insight into the album's thematic structure is as eloquent as any writing on The Kinks * Philadelphia City Paper * ...this is a charming and valuable addition to the series. * Joe Pettit, Ugly Things, Issue 25 * So thorough is Miller's survey of the period. * Pop Culture Press * Kinks commander Ray Davies once described the Beatles as "the boy next door only better." Miller notices this is a deeply autobiographical comment, and he's unquestionably in the tank for both that boy and that boy's nostalgia-driven magnum opus. But Miller tempers his enthusiasm with research, with and detailed-if-straightforward analysis of the songs, the time, the players and the fascinating history of the very English temperament that produced this most English of magnum opuses. * Austin American-Statesman, Oct. 17, 2004 * One of the hallmarks of the 33 1/3 series is the track-by-track runthrough, during which the author proceeds, often in painstaking detail, to describe each song on a given album in order. Occasionally this can be redundant or tedious, but one of the first great examples is in Andy Miller's book on the Kinks' finest hour. -- Stephen M. Deusner * Pitchfork *